Feds will take Chris Brown to Washington, D.C. to face assault charge

Chris Brown, jailed in L.A. without bail, was taken into federal custody on April 3, 2014, and will be flown to Washington, D.C., to face a misdemeanor assault charge. (Feb. 3, 2014 file photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Singer Chris Brown, jailed without bail in Los Angeles for allegedly violating his probation stemming from the 2009 assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna, was in federal custody Thursday and will be flown to Washington, D.C., to face a misdemeanor assault charge.

Laura Vega of the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed to City News Service that Brown, 24, was taken into federal custody, but she would not discuss details of the crooner’s anticipated transport to the East Coast.

A hearing in his Washington, D.C., assault case is scheduled for Monday.

Brown attorney Mark Geragos said his client was taken to a federal holding facility in San Bernardino and was expected to be taken today to Washington, D.C.

A hearing was scheduled this afternoon in downtown Los Angeles to discuss Brown’s custody. That hearing, however, was canceled, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin issued a written ruling denying the defense’s motion to quash the transfer order to Washington, D.C.

Geragos had asked the judge to allow Brown to remain in Los Angeles County sheriff’s custody until April 15 and for Brown to then be released on his own recognizance to travel with his attorney to Washington, D.C., for his trial.

He contended that Brown’s housing location in Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles allowed his attorneys to visit with him “on an almost daily basis” in preparation for the April 17 trial in Washington, D.C., and that Brown would be “stripped of his ability to communicate with his counsel and to continue to assist his attorneys to prepare for trial” if he was taken to Washington, D.C.

In his eight-page ruling, Brandlin wrote, “The constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel does not guarantee conveniently located counsel, nor does defendant’s transfer to Washington, D.C., prevent defendant’s counsel from continuing his representation of defendant. While, admittedly, defendant’s transfer may cause some inconvenience to defendant and his attorneys, it does not ‘deprive 1/8defendant3/8 of his right to counsel’ as defendant argues.”

Brown was arrested March 14 after he was tossed out of a Malibu substance-abuse and anger-management facility, where he had been for about four months.

Brandlin said the singer made troubling remarks during a group therapy session, discussing his use of guns and knives.

Geragos had asked Brandlin to allow Brown to enroll in another program, arguing that none of the singer’s alleged actions warranted jail time. Brandlin, however, ordered that Brown remain jailed without bail.

Brandlin warned Brown during a February court hearing that any change in his good behavior could land him in jail.

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Brown is accused in Washington, D.C. of punching a 20-year-old man who was trying to get a photo with the R&B singer. A tentative trial date in that case is set for April 17.

Brown pleaded guilty in June 2009 to assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury for assaulting Rihanna during an argument that began about 12:30 a.m. Feb. 8, 2009, while the singers were in a rented Lamborghini in Hancock Park after attending a pre-Grammy Awards party.

Brown was sentenced to five years probation, a yearlong domestic violence program -- which he completed -- and 180 days of community labor.

Brown’s probation was first revoked last summer after he was charged with a pair of misdemeanors and an infraction stemming from a May 21 traffic crash in Toluca Lake. Those charges have since been dismissed, despite a city prosecutor’s objection to a “civil compromise” in which attorneys said no money was exchanged between the parties.

His probation was reinstated last August, when Brandlin ordered the singer to perform an additional 1,000 hours of community labor.